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Shortage hits not just ammo, but components, too

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Reporter Todd Bensman’s story on the ammunition shortage in the San Antonio Express-News on Monday was right on target.

There is plenty of bare space on store shelves around town that used to be packed with popular rifle and handgun ammo.

And that’s bad for hunters, target shooters and plinkers.

A trip to the grand opening of the Sports Authority on U.S. 281 North on Saturday proved to be a couple of days late. Ammunition for most common calibers was gobbled up during the soft opening. So I joined the hoarders and bought the last three boxes of .45 ACP they had.

A clerk at Academy Sports & Outdoors said shipments of a variety of ammo still come in but on an irregular schedule. He said some customers come in almost every day to check. When it arrives, it’s not there for long.

But it’s not just ammunition that is in short supply.

This isn’t news to hand loaders, who’ve been scrambling for components for months, but bullets, brass and primers are scarce, too.

A check at such Internet retailers as www.midwayusa.com and www.midsouthshooterssupply.com showed back orders for bullets in weights for such common calibers as .223, .257, .270, 7mm and .308.

Gunpowder is in low supply, too.

And handgun ammo and bullets? Not much.

Ditto for loaded ammunition.

But there is plenty of big game ammo in .300 Winchester Magnum, .300 Weatherby Magnum and .375 H&H Magnum.

On the bright side, there are still a lot of shotgun shells available. But dove loads are up a couple of bucks a box, to around $6 or $7.

When supply will catch up with demand is anyone’s guess.

Hopefully, it will be by summer, when hunters are sighting in their rifles for the fall seasons and they won’t mind firing half a box to get those crosshairs just right.